Sky and the Hijackers

Fiction by Frank Knebel

Chapter 11

The steamer trunk jostled to a stop and was lowered to the ground. When Amy Cole heard the latches being undone, she breathed a sigh of relief. It had not been a very long trip, but to a naked woman bound, gagged, blindfolded and shut up in a trunk, any amount of time made for an uncomfortable experience. She felt cooler air on her skin as the lid was lifted.

     “Have a nice trip, Deputy?” asked the blond woman who had been in command of her abduction. “Bradford apparently did a good job with making those air holes for you, and I’m glad you decided to be an obedient girl by not making a fuss.” The woman turned away from Amy. “Okay. Get her out of there.”

     Two pairs of male hands, one at Amy’s feet and the other using the ropes around her upper body, lifted her from the trunk and carried her a few steps. She was lowered onto some kind of padded surface and rolled on her side.

     “All right, Bradford,” said the blonde. “You know what to do.”

     “We’ll wait for you outside,” he answered.

     The footfalls of the two men receded across whatever room they were in and a door opened and closed again. Amy felt the padding sink a bit as the woman apparently knelt beside her. A hand was run through Amy’s long dark hair.

     “You’re certainly a cute little piece, Deputy,” said the woman. “I’ll bet you’re the hit of the local policemen’s ball every year.” The hand stroked down to the end of Amy’s hair and continued onto her shoulder. After a little play with her neck and shoulder, the hand moved on to caress one of her breasts. “Yes, I’ll bet these beauties have all the guys eating out of your hand.”

     The woman rolled her onto her back so that she could use both hands to fondle Amy’s breasts. The helpless woman mewed a protest into her gag and tried to turn back to her side, but the blonde easily held her in place, continuing the massaging of Amy’s beasts and hardened nipples.

     “Oh!” the blonde whispered. “So you’ve been tied up enough that you kind of enjoy this, huh?” Amy squirmed and protested again. “Don’t worry, sweetie. I’ve had lots of fun like this, too. Your secret’s safe with me. The problem is that Rowlands also likes you this way. So we’ve got to keep you away from him for a while. Out of sight, out of mind, I always say. I hope you’ll excuse me if I take another precaution with you.”

     She released Amy’s breasts and rolled the bound Deputy onto her tummy. She looped a piece of rope around Amy’s ankle bonds and pulled on the free ends, raising her feet from the ground. When her prisoner’s calves were just past vertical, the blonde secured the free ends to one of the sets of loops around her upper body.

     “There you go,” the blonde said, grunting with the effort of tying a tight knot. “A nice little hogtie for you, not too severe but enough to keep you in one place.” She leaned over and whispered confidentially to her bound captive. “And, if I were you, I wouldn’t try making a lot of noise if you hear someone walking around. You see this building is our new hideout and headquarters, so the only guys who’ll be here are our men. And some of them would just love to find a little bundle like you. You’re hidden away where you are right now, so if you stay nice and quiet no one will even know you’re here. And I’m going to cover you up just in case anyone strolls by.”

     She rolled Amy onto her side. A long-nailed finger stroked gently from Amy’s waist down into her pubic hair and between her legs. Amy shuddered at her touch.

     “I really should have put a rope through here,” the blonde said huskily. “Sorry. No time right now.”

     She stood up and a moment later Amy felt a sheet being spread over her.

     “Remember, Deputy, nice and quiet. You’re my little secret.”

     Amy heard the woman’s footsteps cross the room and the opening and closing of the door. After listening intently and hearing no sounds for a minute or so, the helpless woman began struggling to free herself.

Sky Ryder stepped from the Kermit County Hall of Records building and paused for a moment on the sidewalk. The information he had found confirmed most of his suspicions, but he wanted to make one more stop at the office of a local realtor to be absolutely sure of his theory. And if what Copper found in Lake Havasu City linked to what he had discovered, the case was nearly solved. Of course they would have to find where the gang was now, but at least they would have some idea of where to look.

     The tall flier strode purposefully toward the realty office in the next block.

Dispatcher Bonnie Johnson put the receiver back into its cradle.

     “Still no ansuh from Amy, Sheriff,” she said.

     Sheriff Winchell checked his wristwatch again. He looked uncertainly at Bonnie for a moment before turning to Deputy Charlie Barnes.

     “Charlie, I want you to take Bonnie over to Amy’s place and make sure nothing’s happened to her. Get the manager to let you in, but find out what’s going on.”

     The lanky Deputy rose and picked up his hat from the table in front of him.

     “Right, Sheriff. We’ll call in to let you know what we find.”

     “Use the phone,” Winchell cautioned. “I don’t want to take the chance that the gang’s tuned into our radio frequency.”

     “Come on, Bonnie,” said Barnes.

     The shapely dispatcher grabbed her hat and hurried after the long striding deputy.

     * * * * *

     Rowlands pulled back the blinds to see Mary LaRocque getting out of the car that had just pulled in next to the abandoned building where he and Healy had established their watching post. A few moments later, there was a knock at the side door.

     “Keep watching the front,” Rowlands told Healy.

     Rowlands opened the side door. The blonde smiled slightly at him, but remained standing just outside the doorsill. Rowlands grabbed her by the arm and abruptly pulled her inside. She let herself fall against him, then put her arms around his neck and kissed him long and hard.

     “I’m glad to see you too,” she said when they finally broke. “Did you miss me?”

     Rowlands smiled grimly

     “I sure hope that Mrs. Ryder missed you,” he whispered. “She’s the store across the street, and if she recognizes you this whole plan’ll blow up right in our faces!”

     She pulled him close again and kissed him lightly.

     “Such a shame for a nice face like yours.”

     He put his forefinger under her chin.

     “And this pretty face of yours wouldn’t be good for much behind bars, with only other women around.”

     “You’d be surprised.”

     “Who else is with you?”

     “Bradford drove me. Reeves and both of the girls are across the street.”

     “Okay. Let’s go. Come on, Healy.”

     Healy, lean and sly, who had been studiously avoiding any sign that he was watching the pair, left the front window and came to the side door.

     “It’s still all clear in front,” he said, the hint of a smirk on his handsome features.

     Rowlands let him lead the way to the car.

“More coffee, Sue?” offered Julie Ryder as she poured a bit more from the thermos into her own cup.

     “No thanks,” said Sue. “I know we have to be alert on a job like this, but I don’t want to be too edgy.”

     The two women had taken folding chairs from the back stock room and partially hidden themselves behind shelves near Martha’s front door. They had not been in the way of the few customers Martha had served so far that morning, and their post gave an excellent view of the Irons sisters’ office across the road. Karen and Jill had again spent the night on cots in the office, and no one had come or gone so far that day. Martha had again gone to the back room, leaving the door slightly ajar, and Sue, who had noted that Julie was not speaking freely while Martha was about, dropped her voice to a whisper.

     “So what’s the idea that Sky had yesterday?” she asked eagerly. “Has he solved the case?”

     Julie glanced toward the door to the stockroom.

     “He’s not positive yet, but Sheriff Winchell and Copper and I think he’s got something. Don’t you think that it’s odd how the gang has known so much about the security measures we’re taking for all the shipments? They knew Sky wasn’t going to be watching the shipment out to Dr. Folger’s camp and kept both you and the State police units away. And then they knew that you and Amy would be leading the convoy to Dr. Field’s camp and ambushed and replaced you while you were getting coffee in here.”

     Sue leaned forward.

     “So he thinks that the gang’s getting inside information somehow? Or does he thinks someone close to Karen and Jill is behind everything?” She noticed Julie glancing at the storeroom door again. Her eyes widened. “You mean Martha maybe?”

     Julie put her index finger to her lips.

     “Sh-h-h-h. I don’t really know who Sky suspects the most, but Martha certainly is a possibility.”

     “But she’s been captured a couple times too: once with Karen and Jill, and once with Amy and me.”

     Julie shrugged.

     “It’s possible that those were just for show. Remember that the bomb that was supposed to kill everyone in the office was a phony, and that there was no danger for you while you were all tied up in the back room here.”

     “And being bound and gagged with us would be a pretty smart way of diverting suspicion away from herself wouldn’t it?” Sue mused. “I can hardly believe it, partly because I still don’t see why Martha would want to ruin Karen and Jill.”

     “Sky’s not positive yet, and he’s sent Copper off to Lake Havasu City to look at another angle. The other possibility is that Karen and Jill aren’t the main targets of this harassment. We’ll know more when she gets back. Meanwhile, we have to keep our eyes on the trucking office and make sure we know what Martha’s doing too.”

     Sue now looked back at the rear door.

     “Hasn’t she been back there for quite sometime now?” she asked.

     “Yes, she has, now that you mention it. I wonder if everything’s all right.” She rose from her chair as she turned toward the door in the back. “Martha! Are you still back there?”

     There was no answer. Sue laid her hand on Julie’s arm as she rose and drew her revolver. Though she understood Sue’s gesture as a warning to stay back, Julie could not help but follow and Sue crept toward the doorway. The hinges of the door were to Sue’s right and the door opened into the storeroom, so she turned slightly to the right and extended her left arm, ready to swing the door back on anyone who might be hiding behind it.

     Before Sue could push the door, a man’s hand darted from behind the left side of the frame and grabbed her left wrist. With a quick yank, the slender deputy was pulled into the room. Another man seized her right wrist and pried the pistol from her fingers.

     “Run, Julie!” Sue cried as she was dragged into the storeroom.

     Julie dashed for the front door of the store, throwing aside and overturning her folding chair as she went past. She was still a few feet from the door when she heard a familiar woman’s voice behind her.

     “Stop right there, Mrs. Ryder! I don’t want to shoot you if I can help it.”

     Her arm outstretched in a reach for the front door, Julie turned. The blonde who had led the female gang at the beauty shop stood in the storeroom doorway. She was pointing a snub-nosed automatic pistol directly at Julie, who slowly raised her hands.

     “Another good decision, Mrs. Ryder,” said the blonde. “But step away from the door before you get those hands too high. We wouldn’t want anyone to see a possible robbery in progress.”

     “You think of everything, don’t you?” asked Julie as she moved toward the middle of the room.

     “We try to be thorough.” She called over her shoulder. “Jean!”

     The tall brunette appeared beside her.

     “Close up the store for a while, will you. I wouldn’t want to be interrupted while we’re entertaining these ladies.”

     Jean looked Julie up and down with a grin.

     “Sure thing.”

     They both advanced on Julie. The blonde kept the pistol trained on her. Jean hurried past and turned the ‘Open/Closed’ sign on the store’s front door and locked it. As she came up behind Julie, she gave the captive a shove in the back to speed her progress.

     “Let’s get moving, sweetie,” she hissed. “We have big plans for you.”

     “Oh, what now?” Julie asked with cool sarcasm. “Are you going to suspend me over a pit of crocodiles this time? Tie me to the railroad tracks?”

     “We’re hardly so crude as that,” said the blonde, unruffled. “Come along.”

     She stepped aside and let Julie lead her and Jean into the storeroom. Near the center of the open floor space, Bradford and another hulking, dark-haired man stood on either side of Martha Winthrop. A banded handkerchief between Martha’s upper and lower teeth held cloth packing in her mouth, her hands were obviously tied behind her back and sets of cords looped her arms and torso in several places. Nearer the door, Rowlands knelt behind Sue Kendall looping ropes around her arms and body. He had already cuffed the Deputy’s wrists behind her, and Lisa was stuffing a wadded cloth into Sue’s mouth. Another tall man Julie had never seen was standing nearby, holding some ropes and watching the activity in the room with great interest.

     “Well, hello again, Rowlands,” said Julie. “Still indulging that nasty habit of yours about tying up women, I see.”

     Rowlands looked up. He smiled slightly.

     “A man has to have some hobbies, Captain, and I was never very good at golf.”

     The blonde watched them with amusement.

     “It’s nice to know that you two are such old friends,” she said.

     “Oh, Rowlands has been tying me up for years,” Julie said heartily. She crossed her wrists behind her back. “I suppose that’s next on the agenda.”

     One side of the blonde’s crookedly smiling mouth raised a bit more.

     “Not quite yet, Mrs. Ryder. I think there’s one more thing to do before that.”

     Julie uncrossed her wrists and reached for the top button of her blouse.

     “Of course. You want me to strip first. How forgetful of me.”

     Rowlands had stretched another scarf between Sue’s jaws to hold in the gag wad and was now tying the ends behind her head.

     “You’re a very attractive woman, Mrs. Ryder,” he said calmly. “We’ll all enjoy the view.”

     “Well as long as it’s for my old friends...” said Julie taking off her blouse.

     “Make sure you tape over those gags, you two,” the blonde said turning from Rowlands to Bradford. “Then tie their legs, then tie the two of them together.”

     Sue and Martha made alarmed mews into their gags. The blonde reached over and unbuckled the belt of Julie’s slacks.

     “We’ve got a lot to do this morning.”

“Did you get the information you needed, Sky?” asked Winchell as his friend hung up the phone.

     The tall rancher stood and made his way around the Sheriff’s desk.

     “I sure did, Winch. And thanks for the use of your desk.”

     Winchell folded his arms across his chest and looked expectantly at Sky.

     “So what does the Bureau of Mines have to do with Karen and Jill Irons and the University’s project on this lost Indian civilization?”

     Sky smiled mischievously at the Sheriff.

     “Well, nothing really. But I think we’ve been unable to see the motive in this case because we’ve been looking at it too closely. If you back up and see a bigger picture, things start to make a little sense.”

     Winchell raised an eyebrow.

     “You want to clue me in?”

     Before Sky could answer there was a knock at the office door. Al MacKeever stood in the doorway.

     “Ben and I are about ready to go to the Irons sisters’ office to escort the trucks, Sheriff. Any final instructions?”

     “Hold on a minute there, Al.”

     The graying lawman stepped out into the main room. Deputy Steve Cooley was at the desk and the studious-looking Bill Harrison manned the radio and phone. Young Ben Norris stood a few steps from the outside door. Winchell looked around.

     “Any news from Bonnie and Charlie, or from Amy?” he asked.

     Both men shook their heads.

     “Nothing yet, Sheriff,” said Harrison.

     Sky had followed Winchell to the doorway. MacKeever remained just outside the office. All eyes were on the Sheriff as he ran his right forefinger over his mustache

     “Just hold for a few minutes, Al,” said Winchell. “With Sue on the stakeout with Mrs. Ryder and Harry and Andy out on patrol, we could end up short-handed if Amy needs any help. We’ll wait a few minutes until Bonnie and Charlie check in. A few minutes won’t make that much difference to Karen and Jill.”

     He looked at Sky with a trace of a smile.

     “Besides,” he added, “I can use the time to have Sky fill me in on his latest theory about the case.”

     He and Sky started back into the office. Winchell paused at the door.

     “Let me know the minute Bonnie calls in, Bill.”

     “Right, Sheriff,” the deputy replied.

     When the door was closed, Winchell motioned Sky to the chair in front of Winchell’s desk as he walked around to his own chair.

     “So what’s up here, Sky?”

     “It’s very simple when you think about it,” began Sky. “You see...”

Karen Irons took another look to make sure that the last few boxes of cargo were the ones that needed to be unloaded first. When she was satisfied that the load was ready, she glanced at her wristwatch. It was nearly time to start out and she wondered why the escorting car from the Sheriff’s office had not yet arrived. Despite a somewhat slack appearance, she knew that Al MacKeever was an efficient officer and was usually early rather than on time. While Karen could not remember hearing the phone ring, it was possible that she had merely been too preoccupied to notice, so she ambled toward the office to see if Jill knew anything about a delay for the day’s shipment.

     “Did the Sheriff call, Jill?” she called as she neared the office door.

     When there was no reply, she called her sister’s name a bit louder. Still, there was no response. She took the last three steps a bit faster and pulled the door open.

     “Did you hear me, Ji—“ was all she could get out before she was grabbed from behind and a wadded bandana thrust into her mouth. She tried to raise her hands to pull it out when she was grabbed from both sides. Then she saw the men with guns.

     Her sister Jill sat at her desk, her eyes wide over a white tape gag that covered her mouth. Her hands were behind her back, and on either side of her stood a man holding her by the arm. One man was big and husky with dark hair and permanent five-o’clock shadow. The other was tall and rather handsome, though his good looks took on a jarringly sinister quality due to the slight smile he showed while holding a pistol almost against Jill’s head. The blonde who had been in charge of the gang that had hijacked and kidnapped her and Jill the week before stood between the desks with one hand to her chin as she watched proceedings. Beside her was a husky man of middle height with a brown mustache. He also held a pistol.

     Karen thrashed her arms, trying to free them. As she struggled, she saw that she was being held by two dark-haired women who, though she had not seen them before, matched the descriptions of the two women who had abducted Julie Ryder from Shirley Maxwell’s beauty shop a few days ago.

     “Give it up, Blondie,” snapped the taller of the two brunettes.

     “That’s very good advice, Miss Irons,” said the blond leader. “I know how much you care for your sister, and if there’s a struggle in here she might get hurt.”

     Karen stopped struggling, but she continued to glare at the two brunettes.

     “I thought you’d see reason,” the blonde continued. “Now let’s get into the back room, shall we? The deputies will be along shortly to escort you two to Dr. Folger’s camp and we wouldn’t want to disappoint them, would we?”

     The mustachioed man turned to the tall, handsome one.

     “Tell Bradford to bring the car around back,” he ordered.

     The good-looking man glanced hungrily at Karen and Jill but nodded and went out the front door. The big, dark man pulled Jill to her feet. The two brunettes forced Karen back into the loading dock.

     “There,” Mary La Rocque said to Rowlands. “Easy as can be and right on time.”

     Rowlands tucked the pistol into his belt under his suit coat.

     “We’ll see,” he said warily. “It’s never easy here. Especially against Ryder.”

     Mary checked her wristwatch.

     “Mr. Ryder will be taken care of soon.”

“Anything?” asked Deputy Charlie Barnes.

     Dispatcher Bonnie Johnson shook emerged from the bathroom shaking her head.

     “It’s pretty cleauh that she took a showuh,” the shapely officer replied. “The tub’s still wet and theauh’s a wet towel heauh on the floauh.”

     Barnes joined her at the bathroom door and looked at the room.

     “Look what I found,” he said gesturing to the bedroom.

     The two stepped into the room. Barnes pointed as he spoke.

     “Her bed’s made and a clean uniform laid out on the foot of it.”

     Bonnie picked up a pair of panties and a bra neatly folded on top of the pile.

     “Unduhweauh too,” she said thoughtfully. “Charlie, I think that Amy’s been kidnapped.”

     The rangy Deputy shook his head.

     “It doesn’t make any sense. Why would anyone kidnap Amy? But it sure looks like that’s what’s happened.” He thought for a moment. “You’d better call it in.”

     The curvaceous dispatcher picked up the telephone.

Copper Ryder emerged from the ladies’ room of the Kermit airport and strode purposefully to the soft drink machine on one the opposite wall of the little waiting area. She bought a Coke, used the built-in opener to pry off the cap and took a deep drink. She was wiping her lips on the back of her arm when she remembered Sky’s frequent admonitions about ladylike behavior in public. She looked around sheepishly, hoping that there had been no witnesses, and was relieved to see that Tim, busy with a sheaf of papers at the desk, was the only other soul in the building at present. As she strolled across to him, on the radio the ballplayers from Damn Yankees were belting out a chorus about having lots of heart.

     “Are the guys finished refueling the Hummingbird yet, Tim?” she asked innocently.

     The slender, crew-cut young man turned to look out the office window.

     “They’re just finishing up now. Isn’t it kinda early for you to have finished a trip already? Where’ve you been today?”

     “Oh, just a bit of official business in Lake Havasu City.” When Tim did not rise to the bait, she continued: “Official police business, you understand.”

     Tim continued to read his papers.

     “That right?” he asked absently. “The Sheriff send you over there for something?”

     “Well, not the Sheriff exactly. It was Sky, but he was acting for the Sheriff, of course. You see, Sky has a theory about the hijackings that have been going on around here. He thinks that---“

     The phone rang and Tim answered it. It was a routine call, but Copper, having lost any hope of impressing Tim with the importance of her errand, finished her Coke and strolled out to the runway. For his failure to be impressed, Copper left the empty bottle for Tim to take back to the rack beside the machine. She was a few steps away from the plane when she heard someone calling her from behind.

     “Miss Ryder?”

     She stopped and turned. A tall, rather good-looking man with curling brown hair stood beside a small plane nearby. There was something vaguely familiar about him.

     “Yes?”

     The man smiled amiably but did not move forward to meet her. He slipped his right hand into the pocket of his suit coat.

     “Miss Copper Ryder?”

     “Yes, I’m Copper Ryder,” she said.

     Noticing that the man was staying where he stood, Copper took a few steps toward him, hoping that getting a bit closer might jog her memory at to who he was.

     “I see that you don’t remember me,” he said.

     She stopped. Suddenly she did remember his face above her where the roof of Geary’s garage met the blue sky just before she sank into oblivion. Involuntarily, she gasped.

     “Well, I see that you do remember me after all.” He drew his right hand out of his pocket and displayed a .38 caliber pistol.

     “Oh, yes,” Copper said. “I remember you now.” Her hand started to reach up for the back of her head at the memory.

     “I think we’d better have a little talk over here.”

     He waved the gun in his direction. Copper took a quick look around. There was no one she could see. Even if Tim happened to look out the window, Copper guessed that the man was hidden from view by the plane beside him.

     “Just take it slow and easy,” the man continued. “Make it look very natural.”

     He followed her as she walked slowly into the closest hangar. A medium sized man got out of a car parked beside it. He reached a hand in to help someone out of the car. Copper saw a woman getting out with great difficulty. As she got nearer, Copper could see that the woman’s awkwardness had been caused by the fact that her hands were tied behind her back and her arms secured to her body. And after a few more steps, even with several strips of adhesive tape over the woman’s lower face, Copper could recognize her as May Vinson.

     Copper stopped walking and turned to the man. He was drawing a piece of rope from his left-hand pocket.

     “What’s this all about?” she demanded.

     “I’m a fellow flier, Miss Ryder,” he said, continuing to smile agreeably. “I thought that you and the lady here might enjoy taking a little flight with me.”

Jean finished with the top button on the blue Irons transport shirt and tucked the tails into her jeans. When she was done she looked down at herself, then reached up with both hands and pulled at the excess fabric in the area of her breasts.

     “You must be very popular with the men around town, sweetie,” she said sarcastically to Karen Irons.

     Karen could make no reply, for she was still gagged with the wadded bandana, which had been reinforced with a banded securing tie and a covering of several strips of adhesive tape, matching the gag of her sister Jill. Both women had both been forced to strip to their bras and panties and submit to having their hands bound behind their backs. Their arms were then secured to their bodies with loops of cord both above and below their breasts and above and below their waists.

     Jean strolled the few steps over to Karen, leering suggestively at the captive and lightly laying her top teeth on the tip of her slightly protruding tongue as came. She laid a red-painted index fingernail on Karen’s barely covered left nipple.

     “Yes,” she purred. “Very popular, I’d say.”

     Karen defiantly pulled away from her tormentor. Jean laughed and turned to Lisa.

     “How’s yours doing, Lisa?”

     Lisa was just tucking in her shirt. Unlike Jean’s, the shirt Lisa had taken from Jill was an excellent fit. Lisa grinned at Jill, whose eyes were wide as she sidled away from the brunette. Lisa grabbed the little blonde around the waist and pulled her close.

     “She’s just terrific!” said Lisa. Jill continued to writhe in her arms. “Though she’s not too friendly yet.”

     “All right, you two,” announced Mary La Rocque. “No playing with the merchandise now. They have to be delivered intact.”

     Lisa grabbed Jill by the hair and forced her to bend back.

     “Oh, we won’t hurt them,” Lisa said. “We just want to get to know them a little.”

     Mary put her hands on her hips and looked at the two brunettes as though she were an elementary school teacher who was half impatient but half amused by her mischievous students.

     “Just tie their legs so we can get them loaded in the car,” she said.

     Lisa forced Jill into a chair and Jean had Karen sit on a small crate. The two brunettes began securing the sisters’ legs at the ankles and knees. The men waited nearby. Healy watched with great interest Jean and Lisa dealing with their beautiful blond prisoners.

     “So what happens to the two blondes?” he asked Rowlands.

     “We’re taking them and the Ryder woman back to the hideout. The Boss wants to make sure they’re kept out of the way for a while.”

     Healy ran his hand over his mouth.

     “And do we get to have a little fun with ‘em while we keep ‘em?”

     “Relax, Healy,” said Rowlands. “I doubt that the Boss will want us to mess with ‘em.”

     “And why not?” Healy’s voice rose with defiance. “It’s okay for you t’ say ‘hands off’ since you’ve got your own little honey here, but what about the rest of us?”

     “I agree with Healy,” growled Reeves.

     “Shut up, Reeves,” said Bradford.

     “Or what?”

     Reeves turned to confront Bradford. Reeves was just a bit shorter than Bradford, though wider and thicker through the chest and shoulders. But there was something in Bradford’s eyes that made Reeves back down.

     “If you’re getting twitchy,” Rowlands said to Healy, “I know some places in L. A. where they can take care of you. Laughton’s from Phoenix. He probably knows the places there. But while you’re on this job, you’re going to do things as I say. You and Reeves take the Chevy back to the hideout.”

     Healy shrugged and gestured to Reeves. The two men went out to the car through the truck door.

     “All right, girls,” said Mary. “Let’s get those wigs on.”

     Jean and Lisa had finished binding the Irons sisters’ legs and had watched the little showdown apprehensively. They now took their bags to the restroom.

     Mary strolled over to Rowlands and Bradford so that she could speak quietly.

     “Do you think that sending them back together was a good idea?” she asked

     “Probably not,” said Rowlands. “But it’s too late now.”

     Jean and Lisa had pinned up their dark hair and were now putting on the blond wigs. When they were done, they were fairly good imitations of the Irons sisters.

     “How do we look?” asked Jean.

     Mary looked the two over.

     “Not bad at all. Now let’s get those two into the car so you can play your parts.”

     Jean pulled Karen to her feet then embraced the helpless blonde from behind, placing her hands over Karen’s breasts. She took the shoulder straps of Karen’s bra between her thumbs and forefingers and slid her hands up and down.

     “They don’t really need these, do they?” she asked.

     Karen glared at Jean over her shoulder. The corner of Mary’s mouth raised slightly.

     “Go ahead if you want to. But no rough stuff.”

     Jean and Lisa dug small knives out of their bags and quickly cut the bra straps of their prisoners. As Karen and Jill mewed protests into their gags, the two imposters unhooked their bras and tore them off. Mary La Rocque looked on in mild amusement as the henchwomen gave their captives’ breasts a thorough pawing. She reached into her own bag and took out two depleted rolls of white adhesive tape.

     “Here,” she said, tossing a roll to both Jean and Lisa. “You’d better blindfold them too.”

     The two eagerly tore tape from the rolls and covered Karen and Jill’s eyes.

     “Okay,” Mary announced. “Let’s move them.”

     Rowlands went to help Jean and Bradford to help Lisa. The men took the prisoners by their shoulders and the women by the feet. Together, they lifted the two helpless girls and carried them to the car just inside the loading dock. Mary went ahead and opened the back door.

     “Good news, Mrs. Ryder,” she said. “We’ve brought you some company.”

     She lifted a blanket that covered one side of the floor in the back seat. Julie Ryder lay under it, nude, hogtied, gagged and blindfolded. Jill Irons was placed on the floor of the other side, her legs lying partially across Julie. Karen was laid face down on the back seat. Mary sat beside her, folding Karen’s legs back almost double and tying her ankle bonds to her wrists in a tight hogtie. The men helped Mary cover the two new prisoners with blankets.

     “All right, girls,” said Mary as she closed the back door of the sedan. “Get to those trucks and give a good performance.”

     “Take good care of our little friends,” said Jean looking longingly at the wriggling forms under the blankets. “We’ll look forward to seeing them again.”

     Jean and Lisa got into the two trucks and started the engines. Rowlands and Bradford slid into the sedan’s front seat. Rowlands started the engine and backed the car out of the dock. As the two trucks moved out toward the street, Rowlands pulled the sedan behind the transport building and waited. In a few moments Jean, driving the big two-and-a-half ton truck in front, gave him a wave, and he steered past the two trucks and onto the highway.

In the back stockroom of Martha Winthrop’s store across the road Deputy Sue Kendall lay tied head to foot with Martha. Both women were fully dressed, with their hands secured behind their backs, arms bound to their sides, legs and ankles tied, and effectively gagged with cloth wads and ties. Rowlands had used Sue’s own handcuffs on her and had, as a precaution, removed Sue’s belt before they had bound the two women together. Though they were not blindfolded, Sue had been unable to see where her gunbelt, with its hidden extra handcuff keys and small folding knife, was, but she thought that she had heard him drop it on the floor of the main room of the store. The door between the two rooms was standing slightly open, and Sue wondered if they would be able to swing it open if they could get to it tied as they were. Sue’s head and Martha’s feet were pointed toward the door as they lay. The young Deputy tried again to get Martha to move in that direction. For some reason Martha did not understand or was unable to move that way.

     The phone in the main room rang. After eight rings it stopped.

     “I hope that was Sky or someone from the office,” thought Sue. “At least they know we’re here. Somebody’s got to come looking for us sooner or later. Sooner, I hope.”

“There we go, Miss Ryder,” said Laughton. “All nice and snug.”

     Copper Ryder was indeed snugly bound. In the shelter of the hangar Laughton and Ritchie had bound her hands behind her back, looped her arms tightly to her body and gagged her with a cloth packing and adhesive tape. Then Laughton had taxied the Hummingbird close to the hangar, and the two men had marched their two identically bound prisoners to the plane. May Vinson had been helped into the rear seat and her knees and ankles tied. Copper had been put into the left-hand seat in front. The men had bound her knees and ankles then had strapped and tied her tightly into the seat, In addition to the seatbelt, they had put several loops around her upper body and even a loose loop from the top of the seat around her neck. Though she was in no danger of strangling if she sat back, any attempt to lean forward would immediately cut off her air.

     “A nice job, don’t you think?” Laughton affably asked Ritchie.

     Ritchie looked at the two women and gave a nod.

     “You want me to start now?” he asked Laughton.

     “Yeah. You know which way to go?”

     “Yep. I got it.”

     “Get started then.”

     The wiry man walked warily back to the car they had parked near the hangar. Laughton climbed back into the plane and looked at the two bound women with an innocent smile.

     “One last check of you two, ladies, then we’ll be all set to go.”

     He pulled and tugged on some of the ropes holding Copper in her seat.

     “Looks like a good job on you, Miss Ryder. Let’s see though...”

     He reached toward Copper’s throat. She recoiled, fearing that he was going to tighten the noose around her neck. Instead, he undid the top two buttons of Copper’s checkered shirt. The girl thrashed indignantly but uselessly in the seat. He used his index finger to trace the line of her cleavage a good way down. She wriggled helplessly, glaring daggers at him.

     “Well, I guess you’re pretty secure,” he said dryly, taking his finger away. “Let’s see about your friend.”

     He backed out of the seat so he could push the back down and climb into the rear seat area. He conducted a similar test on May Vinson. Though the slender matron made a good deal more gagged noise, her struggles were equally useless. With a little chuckle, Laughton moved back to raise the right-hand seat again. Though it was difficult for Copper to turn and watch him, as he slid back the girl thought she saw something shiny drop onto the back seat. She glanced at May Vinson and noted that she appeared to have seen it too. Laughton, occupied with the seat and avoiding hitting his head on the top of the doorframe, had not. When the seat was raised again, Laughton paused in the door and regarded his two prisoners with a charming smile.

     “Just one more minute, ladies,” he said. “Then we’ll be off.”

     He disappeared into the hangar. Copper motioned toward the shiny object as best she could and gave May a gagged urging to get it. May nodded and scooted over to it. She turned her back and reached out with her right hand. Her fingers wrapped around it and lifted it from the seat. It was a small pocketknife! The woman worked to open the blade as Copper kept watch. May had just succeeded in unfolding the blade when Laughton reappeared from the hangar. Copper mewed a warning, and May turned her back against the seat to hide the knife.

     “All right, girls,” said Laughton. “Let’s get under way.”

     Copper’s eyes grew wide as Laughton fastened his seatbelt and closed the cabin door. The man was now wearing a parachute!

Deputy Amy Cole stopped struggling to rest. Hours of sporadic efforts against her bonds had produced no results. She was still securely hogtied on some kind of pallet and covered by a sheet. Her blonde captor had shown some mercy in that her tied ankles were not connected to her wrist bonds, but one of the loops of rope around her lower body. Though the modified hogtie immobilized her, her bound legs put no extra pressure on her shoulders and arms. She was able to lie fairly comfortably on her side, which was much easier for breathing than being permanently trapped on her belly.

     There had been a few sounds of people coming and going, though they seemed either fairly far away or muffled by walls between her and the sources of the noise. She wondered what king of building she was in.

     “I never knew that there were so many abandoned warehouses and shops in the Kermit area,” she thought idly. “The trip here didn’t take very long, so we must be still in town or not very far from it.”

     She knew that during the War there had been many small manufacturing concerns with their storage facilities in the area. Once the War was over these business branches had been either relocated or closed as no longer necessary. Most of these had been located on the West side of town, and it was her best guess that one of these was now being used as a gang hideout.

     “A lot of them had doors that trucks could use,” Amy thought. “I’ll bet that’s where I am.”

     Her chain of thought was interrupted by muffled sounds of voices and large doors being opened.

“There they go,” said Monroe, starting the engine of the sedan.

     A Kermit Sheriff’s patrol car led two trucks past the parking space where Monroe and Strothers waited.

     “Be careful now, young fella,” cautioned the wiry little man. “We don’t wanta spook ‘em too early here. Not until we know that there aren’t more deputies followin’.”

     Monroe turned his head to look behind the trailing smaller truck.

     “There won’t be another car,” said Monroe. “We know the plan, remember?”

     “It pays t’ be safe,” said Strothers. “It won’t hurt none t’ wait a minute or so.”

     Monroe sighed. Though it was probably good advice, he hated to take orders from the little man with the squeaky voice.

     “All right, boy,” Strothers said after a minute. “Let’s go.”

     Monroe put the car in gear.

     “Don’t call me ‘boy’,” he muttered peevishly.

Reeves and Healy closed the drive through doors of the warehouse behind the car. Rowlands and Bradford emerged from the front doors and Mary La Roque from her seat behind Rowlands. Bradford opened the back door on the passenger side and began pulling the covering blankets from the three prisoners.

     “Where should we put ‘em?” Rowlands asked Mary.

     She pointed to an open door leading to a small room on the end of a row of several.

     “This’ll be a good place in here.”

     Bradford took his pocketknife and severed the rope connecting Karen Irons’ hands and feet. Rowlands put his arms around Jill Irons and carefully lifted her from her seat on the floor. The two men carried their bound prisoners to the indicated room and set them on a cheap mattress facing the door. They had just started back to get Julie Ryder when a man stepped out from one of the other rooms and stood waiting for them between the car and the doorway. They both stopped dead in their tracks when they saw that it was Paul Watling. Their boss was neat and dapper as ever. He wore the light gray suit and hat Rowlands remembered from their first meeting in the grimy bar in Los Angeles.

     “Good day, gentlemen,” Watling greeted them. He was smiling and courteous, as always. “It looks like a job well done today. I trust that you had no trouble from any of our fair guests.”

     Rowlands noticed that Bradford shot him a questioning look and that Mary La Rocque appeared to be astonished. Rowlands felt suddenly uneasy and kept his eyes on Watling.

     “This is quite a surprise,” said Rowlands. “I never expected to see you here.”

     “Just a slight change of plans, my boy. Nothing to worry about.” He glanced at Julie Ryder on the floor of the back seat. “And this must be Mrs. Ryder here, I take it. Lovely, quite lovely.”

     “What kind of a change in plans?” asked Bradford.

     “Nothing that will affect us adversely,” said Watling. “I’ll tell you all about it when you’ve tucked Mrs. Ryder safely away.”

     Now Rowlands glanced at Bradford. The big man nodded. Rowlands went to the car to get Julie. Bradford stood by, apparently waiting. Rowlands wondered if anyone else had noticed that as his partner laid his hands over his belt level that he undid the single button of his suitcoat. Rowlands cut Julie’s hogtie rope and gently lifted her from the car. He carried the helpless woman to the same room they had left Karen and Jill.

     Watling turned to Mary La Rocque.

     “Perhaps, my dear, you should keep watch over our beautiful guests to make sure they do no mischief as I confer with our colleagues.”

     Mary nodded and headed for the door of the room. She glanced several times from Rowlands to Watling and back as she went.

     “So what’s the deal?” asked Rowlands.

“I don’t get it, Sky,” said Sheriff Winchell. “Why in the world would anyone kidnap Amy Cole?”

     Sky Ryder shook his head.

     “I don’t understand either, Winch. They could be trying to gain a hold over you and the department, I suppose, but that makes sense only if they’d told us right away. Why kidnap her if they’re going to keep it a secret?”

     “Maybe I should put more men on the job,” Winchell said. “I just have a feeling something big is going to happen around here.”

     Sky nodded.

     “I think you did the right thing sending the convoy on and leaving Charlie and Bonnie there to secure the scene until the evidence team from the State police gets here. And I agree with that hunch of yours about something happening here.”

     Bill Harrison appeared in the doorway of Winchell’s inner office.

     “Sheriff! You’d better hear this!” he said excitedly. “It’s Tim from the airport. Someone’s stolen Sky’s plane!”

     “What?” both men exclaimed.

     They followed the deputy to the radio set in the main room.

The convoy was only about five miles from town. Jean cursed the heat of the blond wig she wore and checked the traffic again. There were no cars as far as she could see to the front and only one dark sedan behind her. She waved a hand outside the cab of the two-and-a-half ton truck. In the rearview mirror she saw Lisa flash the lights of the panel truck. She took a deep breath and pressed on the accelerator.

Deputy Ben Norris, in the passenger seat of the squad car in front of the trucks, looked casually at the mirror on his side.

     “Hey, Al, Karen’s getting pretty close. You’d better---“

     There was a terrific thud and a jolt as the truck rear-ended the cruiser. Both deputies were thrown into the dashboard.

     “What’s happening back there?” cried MacKeever.

     As Norris turned to look, it happened again. This time the truck hit the car at a slight angle, more toward the left rear fender, swinging the car’s front end to the left. The heavy truck kept pushing the car diagonally down the road and toward the right shoulder. A telephone pole loomed just ahead.

     “Look out, Ben!” MacKeever shouted. “She’s pushing us into it!”

     The truck let off a bit just before the patrol car hit the pole at the right rear door, caving it in and breaking all the glass on that side. Despite the slackening of speed and the force of the impact, the truck still had the wrecked car pinned to the pole. As the two dazed Deputies raised themselves up in the front seat, they saw the panel truck pull up and stop just in front of the hood, blocking the oncoming lane. The blond driver vaulted from her seat and ran to the back of the larger truck, joining the other girl who had climbed down from the cab. Both ran back to where a dark sedan was making a U-turn in the road fifty yards further back. The passenger doors flew open and the women got in. The car roared away, back toward Kermit.

     “Are you all right, Ben?” asked MacKeever.

     Norris looked around dazedly.

     “I don’t think I’m hurt,” he said. “What happened?”

     “We were wrecked, Ben, and on purpose too.” He looked at the fleeing sedan for a moment. “Call this in while I see if we can use the panel truck to get after them.”

     Norris picked up the radio handset and tried to call the Sheriff’s station. There was interfering traffic from Kermit airport. Norris waited for a chance to break in. MacKeever trotted back from the truck and leaned on the open doorframe.

     “What’s wrong?” asked Norris.

     “They either took or threw away the keys,” said MacKeever. “You’ve got to get through, Ben.”

“It’s a full scale offensive, Sky,” said Winchell. “Amy kidnapped, the Hummingbird stolen and now Al and Ben wrecked. I’d better get some men from the other shifts to help out.”

     “I just wonder what’s happened to Copper,” said Sky. “Was the plane stolen when she was away, or is she in it?”

     “It shouldn’t be too long before Tim and the boys out there know something,” said Winchell. “If she’s still out there, they’ll find her.”

     “Hummingbird calling Kermit Sheriff’s station. Come in please. Over.”

     A man’s voice had come from the radio speaker. Before Harrison could answer, Sky Ryder seized the microphone.

     “This is Sky Ryder in the Sheriff’s office. Who are you and what are you doing in my plane?”

     “I’m a friend of yours, Mr. Ryder. Maybe I should say I’m a friend of your niece, ‘cause she’s right here beside me. Aren’t you, honey?”

     A muffled cry was heard briefly.

     “Hello, Hummingbird. Okay, you’ve got my niece. What do you want?”

     There was a short pause.

     “You’re not saying ‘over’ like anyone who knows radio transmission procedures knows to do, Mr. Ryder. But I’ll make allowances. I don’t really want anything, except to tell you that your niece and the Irons sisters’ aunt are up here with me. We’re taking a little flight to the north. That is they’re going to take a little flight, since I’m going to be leaving soon. And they’re both a little tied up to do too much flying. They should enjoy the ride though. It should be a fairly long one, since your niece just refueled. Or maybe you’d like me to tie off the rudder on a turn to the right. They might get a couple good looks at the Grand Canyon before the fuel runs out. Over.”

     “Listen, you, what is it you want from us?”

     “Hummingbird out.”

     Sky tried several times to get a response, but there was none. Finally he handed the microphone back to Harrison.

     “You’re right, Winch,” he said grimly. “A full-scale offensive.”

Laughton hung the radio handset on its hook and grinned at his two unwilling passengers.

     “Just a few more miles, ladies, and I’ll be leaving you. But until then, I think we should enjoy ourselves.”

     He reached over to Copper and started to undo the remaining buttons on her shirt. The girl shook her head and tried to squirm away but it was useless. He spread her shirt as far open as he could with all the ropes around her.

     “Mighty nice view there, blondie,” he said. “Too bad I’ll be the last one to see it.”

     He traced her right breast with his index finger for a few seconds then returned to his flying. Copper tried to desperately to work her hands free.

     “I don’t see how even Sky can get us out of this one!” she thought.